


shelter from the rain

by bookishgypsy



Category: Dynasty (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:33:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22467943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookishgypsy/pseuds/bookishgypsy
Summary: She drives without any real indication as to where she’s heading, she just lets the cities skyline in the distance be her compass, moving along with no real destination in mind. But, when she finds herself pulling into a parking space less than thirty minutes later, she isn’t really all that surprised that her consciousness led her to this particular place. // Post 3x10. Fallon/Liam, obviously.
Relationships: Fallon Carrington/Liam Ridley
Comments: 8
Kudos: 52





	shelter from the rain

**Author's Note:**

> Since this season, in my opinion, is really failing at all aspects of progressing a story and characters…this came to be after Friday’s episode riled me up well enough. Just a little continuation of the episode, I guess, of what could have happened afterwards.
> 
> Follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/fallicms) if you want for daily breakdowns, sarcasm and sometimes I even post sneak peaks of fics.

The cold air stings when the doors to the home she grew up in lock shut behind her. 

She takes a moment, looking up at the grandeur of the design and size and intricacy of the whole place, this…this _place_ she’s spent the last twenty-six years of her life in, living and breathing and making memories in; sad and happy and good and bad memories. 

But that was all over with.

And now she can hold on to those memories, hold them close to her, but begin elsewhere all on her own and make new memories somewhere else, somewhere _new_. 

She’s not even sure where she’s heading when she lifts her foot slowly off the brake and her car starts rolling down the driveway into the pitch black Atlanta night. She didn’t really even have a _plan_ , other than to pack up her bags and leave as quickly as she possibly could. 

The rest, she’d figure out after.

So, she drives without any real indication as to where she’s heading, she just lets the cities skyline in the distance be her compass, moving along with no real destination in mind. But, when she finds herself pulling into a parking space less than thirty minutes later, she isn’t really all that surprised that her consciousness led her to this particular place. 

She steps up to the familiar dark colored door, feet dragging behind her against the solid floor of the apartment complex she’d become all too familiar with over the last year, halting her body at that same wood barrier she’d faced too many times before to even count now. She pauses, allowing herself to take a deep and raggedy breath she didn’t know she’d been holding since she left the manor only less than an hour ago. She repeats the process, letting the air flow in and out of her, calming her ever-budding emotions, before her small, pale hand comes up to gently knock against the hard surface three times. 

“Hey,” he smiles as soon as his door swings open and he’s met with her frame, but his tone and facial expression changes almost instantly after he notices the anxieties she can only assume are front and center against her features. Her quiet demeanor, her shaky hands, the four bags full of her belongings set beside her feet. The way she’s trying to hide the fact that her rash decision isn’t terrifying her, but the way she knows Liam will see right through her outside exterior and catch on to exactly how she’s feeling. His smile fades falling flat against his face, his shoulders drooping and the worry setting in his hazel eyes. “What happened, Fal?”

Of course he’d know something was wrong, he always did; he always _would._

He could read her like an open book.

She takes a quivering breath and his hand reaches out for her on instinct, pulling her straight into his arms, an instant comfort washing over her like a wave at the touch of his fingers against her. She tucks her forehead against the crevice of his neck, letting the warmth and familiar scent of his body try to calm the emotions running wild through her mind. His touch calms her instantly, the feel of his fingers running in small circles against the small of her back, the motion relaxing her jittery hands. 

“Can I stay here?”

She almost doesn’t recognize the voice that escapes her lips, it’s soft and calm and so very _small._ It’s so unsure of itself, lacking that unwavering confidence that is usually so very present in its tone. 

“Of course you can,” he mutters softly, pulling her in even further to his embrace, his arms tightening around her waist; she can feel his breath against the side of her face as he speaks, the warmth of it calming in and of itself. “You don’t even have to ask.”

She accepts his help when he pulls away from her slightly (but not too far, never too far), grabbing her bags that are beside her on the floor and dropping them inside the foyer of his apartment. He reaches for her hand to pull her around the corner to the small living room in the place he calls home; he’s got the fireplace dimly lit, orange and yellow and red blending together in hot, fiery flames that take the chill out of the crisp, cool Atlanta night.

Their fingers tangle together loosely when he pulls her down against his sofa alongside him. She curls into him instinctively, a familiarity; their bodies meshing so easily that they don’t even have to think about it. It’d become like breathing for them, the way it just happens all on its own without any real effort needed on their part. Her shoulder lolls against his and his arm slips around back, rubbing up and down against her arm, immediately filling her with a sense of warmth and comfort she didn’t know she was craving until his arms were wrapped around her.

They stay just like that, a comfortable silence surrounding them as she lets him just hold her against his body. She feels his breath tickling against her as he breaths in an our slowly, his head falling against the top of hers before his voice quips up with a question she knew was going to come at one point or another.

“What happened, Fal?”

Her head just shakes from left to right against his shoulder, inching herself closer to him. Her head drops from his shoulder, falling to his chest. She’s not ready, she hasn’t even fully processed it all herself yet, and she sure is thankful that he doesn’t push her in the way her family would or her past relationships would. He always let her do things on her time, and he always would; it’s one of the reasons she’s fallen so hard for him in the first place. She relishes in the way her eyes flutter shut against him, the way that only _he_ can make her feel completely comfortable and at ease, even in a time like this. 

“Did you eat dinner?” His thumb rubs against the bare of her arm, tingly shivers running up and down her spine at his touch. “It’s late, babe and you should eat if you haven’t.”

“No,” she sighs, burrowing herself further against his side, cheek rubbing against the soft fabric of his sweater. “Not yet.”

“Do you wanna order something?”

Her shoulders fall up and down in a small shrug, so tiny in movement that she figures if he didn’t feel her body move against him he wouldn’t have even noticed the action with his eyes. 

“I’m not really that hungry.”

“Let’s order something, okay?”

She sighs, a slight nod of her head against him. “Okay.”

She can feel the vibration of his voice against her when he says, “What do you feel like?”

“Whatever you pick is fine.”

He moves against her, reaching to the small coffee table in front of them to grab his phone from the top of it. He pushes against the touchscreen, pressing here and there as she watches him carefully. She sneaks a peak at the dim screen to see he’s placing an order at her favorite restaurant and she expected nothing less of him.

“Alright, that’ll be here soon,” he says softly, settling himself back against the couch, allowing her all the room to curl back against him. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about what happened?”

“No.” She shakes her head against him quietly muttering, “Not yet.”

“How about watching some TV for the time being?”

She doesn’t even respond to his quip, just lets her eyes close shut in the silence that seems to fall around them like a fog. She takes comfort in the way that Liam’s fingers twine themselves in her hair, playing with the loose curls that fall against her shoulder. 

She doesn’t know how much time has passed with the absolute stillness around them, but it’s then when she feels Liam lean over and press his lips against her forehead in a soft, lingering kiss; it seemingly gives her some courage, that spark of confidence she needs to finally speak the words aloud. 

“I left the manor,” she breathes the words out slow, the realization of her night hitting her full and well again; the decision she made was real and she was really moving on from a part of her life that had been such a constant since…since _forever._ “And I’m not going back.”

“Fal,” he breaths, free hand immediately coming ‘round to grasp on to her small one resting against his thigh. 

“It turns out…that my dad did in fact kill Mack,” she laughs with her words, but there’s no humor in her tone. It’s sad and in disbelief for being so completely blind to her father for twenty-six whole years, for just believing every word that flew out of his mouth when she’s now certain there was much more he’d been untruthful about with her. “After I went to all those lengths to protect him from jail time. He just…lied to me. And he’d been lying to me the whole time.”

His thumb brushes against the bare skin of her arm, calming and soothing; he doesn’t even try to speak or offer anything between her pauses, he just knows she needs her time to get out everything she wants to say. 

“I just…” Her hands play with the fingers of his hand that’s tangled with hers. “I’ve been so stuck there, you know? I’m stuck in the same toxic situations, with the same toxic people. And that’s not healthy for me. I can’t become who I want to be, or do all I wanna do if I just stay there and let them keep walking all over me.”

There’s a sort of weight lifted off her when she speaks it into the room, like saying it for the first time gave validation to the way she’d been feeling for quite some time now. That it was okay she felt this way, that she didn’t have to stick around with people who weren’t adding any value to her life anymore.

“So, I’m moving out. And I’m moving on.” She looks up at him, sadness swelling in her eyes; tears pooling in her retinas, but she’s not sad, she doesn’t feel upset or anything of the sort. In fact, she feels lighter than she has in years, free from all the constraints and chains holding her down at Carrington manor. It was just an odd feeling to not have a home to return to when it’s all she’s ever known. Overwhelming and a little scary. “I just didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Hey, hey,” he hums, his hands coming up to cup the sides of her face making sure she doesn’t turn away from his gaze like he knew she’d try to. “You’re welcome here always, okay?”

His thumb caresses the side of her face, forcing her to look up directly into his eyes. There’s so much love and adoration that’s staring back at her, so much understanding and empathy that she’s never felt from anyone but him. There’s just something about being here with him, with his gaze that’s staring back at her that she starts to wonder that maybe…maybe that quote she’d read years ago in some book or magazine had some truth to it.

“Stay as long as you need to.”

Maybe _home_ wasn’t a building with four walls after all.

Maybe…maybe home was a person. 

——————————————————–

It’s not until they’re laying in his bed later that night, her head tucked against his torso and his arm tucked behind her, holding her close against him. She moves her hands up and down his bare chest while his hands are preoccupied making random patterns on her lower back; two simple movements that always helped the two off them doze off to sleep when they were spending the night beside each other.

“I’m really proud of you.”

“Hmm?”

“To leave the only place you’ve ever known like that. To walk away from it because you recognize that it’s not the right situation for you to be in anymore.” There’s a small pause in his words, but his hand drawing small circles against the bare of her back never stills. “That’s really brave.”

Her fingers still against him, letting the weight of his words sink in around them. His heart beats under her just below her ear, slowly and steadily, their breathing almost in perfect synchronization with the others. His hand finds hers, tangling their fingers together and squeezing gently; _I’m here,_ the gentle touch says, _I’m not going anywhere._

“And I can see you questioning if you made the right choice, questioning what this means and what’s next for you. But, just know that I’ll be by your side every step of the way. I’m not going anywhere and we’re in this together, okay?”

They fall into a calm silence, fingers dancing against each others skin, just comfortable to _be_ with each other. She can feel his breathing slowing, leveling out even further underneath her eardrum. He’s tired, starting lose the fight to stay awake and she can’t blame him. It _was_ late, the bright red lights from his alarm clock off to the side indicating it was currently 12:47am. 

“I guess I’ll have to start house-hunting,” sighs against him, eyes tired with sleepiness and stress from everything that’d transpired that night. “It’ll be really weird living alone.”

“Alone, huh?”

“Well, yeah,” she hums against the bare of his chest. 

“What if we…” Liam’s softly spoken words trail off slightly, so she pushes her body up with arms resting against him to get a good look at him, at least as best she could in the very dimly lit room. “…looked for a house together?”

“Well, yeah,” she says, smiling up at him and his lips curve upwards with hers just the same. “Of course I’m going to want you to help me look for a place.”

“I mean…what if we looked for a house together,” he says slowly. “That we could _live in_ together.”

“I thought you wanted to take it slow.”

“I did,” he sighs, his tone barely a whisper. “And we have. And I’m eternally grateful that you’ve let us go at the pace we have, when I’ve clearly lost some of what we shared together.”

He uses his left hand to tuck some of her loose hair behind her ear as she leans her face into the side of his palm **;** it’s soft and warm as his thumb starts caressing her cheek.

“But, I’m remembering more and more each day. I know I love you. And if you’re setting out on this new journey alone right now, I’d rather it become our journey together.”

She looks into his eyes finding nothing but honesty and sincerity; not that she doubted he’d ever offer her anything _but_ that, it’s just not an outcome she really thought of; them _living_ together, them starting a new chapter of their lives _together._

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he breathes out softly. “But only if you want to.”

She leans up to him to press her lips against his in a slow, sweet kiss. He reciprocates immediately, mouths gently moving against each other in the dim room. She feels his hand move to the back of her head to pull her closer, before she pushes herself back from him to catch his eyes staring back at her. 

“I love you.”

She settles back against him, his arms falling around her, fingers twirling themselves in and out of her long curls against her back. She pushes herself into his side, letting her eyes flutter shut and succumb to the sleep her body’s been craving for the better part of the night. 

She could get used to this every night; them falling asleep beside each other curled up in each others embrace.

And that’s when she decides that, yeah, her home was _definitely_ a person. 


End file.
